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The election of Barack Obama to the presidency, while historic in its breaking of a racial barrier, has also inspired a large number of Americans, young and old, to become politically active. Progressives are warning that Obama is no radical, rather a centrist Democrat who is open to pressure from the left. On issues like the economy, healthcare, and climate change, grassroots activism is necessary to move beyond definitions of liberal and conservative and create real bottom-up change. Today we feature several voices, most notably those of historian Howard Zinn, and analyst Noam Chomsky, on how and why Americans need to exercise their democratic rights more than ever.

A new documentary called American Feud: A History of Conservatives and Liberals, features Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, Thomas Frank, Kevin Phillips, Donna Brazile, and many others. The film, by Richard Hall and Simone Fary, asks the question “Is there really a ‘Red America’ and a ‘Blue’ America? American Fued asks listeners to reconsider the history of two words and imagine a future beyond Liberalism and Conservatism.”

NOAM CHOMSKY:
Noam Chomsky is a professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is known in the academic and scientific community as the father of modern linguistics. He has written many books including Power and Terror and Hegemony or Survival. According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar during the 1980–92 period, and was the eighth most-cited source overall. His far-reaching criticisms of US foreign policy and his questioning of the legitimacy of US power have resulted in him being almost completely shunned by the American mainstream media in the United States.

HOWARD ZINN:
Howard Zinn is a historian, playwright, and activist, a former shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier before he went to college under the GI Bill and received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has taught at Spelman College and Boston University, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Paris and the University of Bologna. He has received the Thomas Merton Award, the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Upton Sinclair Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. His seminal book of American history, A People’s History of the United States, has sold more than a million copies worldwide.

Chomsky and Zinn Beyond Elections Dollar-a-Day Pack:

~Howard Zinn Speech at Binghamton University – DVD – $100
~Chomsky on Gaza – DVD – $100
~Chomsky 80th Birthday Celebration – MP3 CD – $75
~Chomsky on Elections – DVD – $100
~American Fued – DVD – $75